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Backyard beekeeping creating a buzz in Lafayette after resident ordered to get rid of hives

City Council expected to discuss issue this summer

By Joe Rubino, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
07/04/2014 01:00:00 PM MDT

Updated:
07/05/2014 01:55:30 PM MDT

William Pomeroy, shown Wednesday, keeps bees in his backyard and hopes to change the ordinance against beekeeping in Lafayette. (Mark Leffingwell/Daily Camera)

With the adoption of a backyard chicken ordinance in 2011, Lafayette residents got the birds, but some are now pushing the city to allow them to have the bees, too.

After receiving letters from Lafayette code enforcement informing him the three beehives he keeps in his backyard are illegal and must be removed, William Pomeroy is urging city leaders to reconsider the ordinance that bans keeping the insects.

Pomeroy moved to the 500 block of East Simpson Street last year with his wife, Leslie, dog, Iggy, cat, Goos, and a beehive he started tending in Boulder after his daughter did her senior high school project in 2011-12 on the importance of the pollinators. He has since added two more colonies in his backyard.

The buzzing bugs didn't seem to be a problem until Pomeroy received the first of two letters June 9 informing him that, under city code, his bees were not permitted on residential property and that he would face a citation if he didn't get rid of them.

In a second letter, sent late last month and warning Pomeroy it was his "final warning on the issue," city code compliance specialist Jon Hoffman wrote that bees are "not household pets but rather animals and thus are not permitted on residential properties."

"The city's goal in these matters are to maintain the general character of the city as well as the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens," the letter concludes, giving the Old Town resident until July 10 to comply or face legal action.

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But Pomeroy said this week he intends to keep them while simultaneously imploring the city to change its stance on residential hives.

"I'm not going to get rid of them," Pomeroy said. "To move the hives could cause the hives to collapse, and we don't need that. It's bad enough that the city is dumping insecticide on all the flowers."

Pomeroy said residential beehives are hugely important to pollinating flowers and gardens as wild populations dwindle in the face of colony collapse disorder, and based on his research into the issue, hives are generally safe, even for people with bee allergies. He said he found only 40 cases of fatal bee stings in the United States in all of 2013.

He also pointed out that many of Lafayette's neighbors including Boulder and Louisville allow for hives, and many Lafayette residents are already keeping colonies of their own.

"I am petitioning the city to change the code," he said. "Without bees, we'll all starve in four years. I'm raising bees for my daughter; because I want us to go on living."

Simpson Street neighbor Lyle Laughlin, 78, said Pomeroy is a conscientious neighbor who is well suited to raise bees.

Laughlin said that when he was a kid, his father always kept bees on his farm in northern Boulder County, and he never had an issue with stings.

"I think the big thing here is people don't know the difference between bees and wasps," he said. "I enjoy the bees in the backyard."

Pomeroy also has at least one ally on the Lafayette City Council, after he went before the governing body at its last two meetings to ask for a change to the city codes.

Councilwoman Alexandra Lynch said she also would like to see the code changed.

"Certainly, based on what I know of the issue, honeybee hive collapse is a serious phenomenon, and frankly, I think every good American should keep a beehive and a bat box in their backyard," she said. "I was surprised that beekeeping is not allowed in our residential neighborhoods in Lafayette."

Lafayette spokeswoman Debbie Wilmot said the city does not discuss specific code enforcement activities against residents, but she noted that in a typical code case, if a resident refuses to address the city's concerns, it is referred to a municipal judge who then assesses a fine. Wilmot said that, to her knowledge, there have been no prior beekeeping code violation cases in Lafayette.

She said city staff members are researching beekeeping regulations in neighboring towns and that the issue should be brought up for discussion before the City Council later this summer.

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